DIAL-South
Minutes

Business Meeting at Chapman University Library

 Friday, Jan. 13, 2006

 

Attendees: Marjorie Acevedo, MSMC; Stephanie Ballard, CSU Northridge; Angela Boyd, East L.A. College; Melanie Chu, CSU San Marcos; Sophie Lesinska, USC; Susan Luévano, CSULB; Barbara Miller, CSU Fullerton; Ron Rodriguez, Chapman Univ.; Judith Samuel, L.A. Southwest College; Susan Shapiro, MSMC

 

Introductions and Announcements

 

            The meeting was called to order by co-chair, Sophie Lesinska. She extended thanks to our host, Ron Rodriguez, Associate Dean of Leatherby Libraries, Chapman University.

 

            Ten people attended the meeting. We were delighted to see two new faces at the meeting, Marjorie Acevedo from Mount St. Mary’s College and Angela Boyd from East Los Angeles College. In addition, Melanie Chu, who regularly attends meetings via speakerphone, was able to make the long drive from CSU San Marcos.  Several members announced job openings on their campuses and Judith Samuel called attention to one of the MLK Day events, a Sunday festival with gospel choirs at the United Methodist Church of Culver City.

 

Approval of agenda and the minutes

 

The agenda and the minutes from Nov. 4, 2005 were approved. A copy of the minutes will be posted on the DIAL website and a copy will be e-mailed to Judy Lee, CARL Interest Group Coordinator.

 

Stephanie reminded us of the new CARL Interest Group reporting requirements. Each interest Group is now required to send a copy of minutes from meetings as well as an annual report to the CARL Interest Group Coordinator

 

Bylaws

           

            There was a brief discussion about procedures for approving the DIAL-South Bylaws. A move to approve them was put to a vote and the Bylaws were approved unanimously. A copy will be posted on the DIAL website.

 

            Ron, who is a past president of CARL, said it is a good development that more Interest Groups are writing bylaws. He also filled in the history behind the new reporting requirements. In the past CARL didn’t have formal mechanisms for communication between the Board and the Interest Groups. Now there is a need to be more connected. Sharing minutes of business meetings and submitting an annual report  should accomplish this.

 

Membership

 

            Stephanie brought a printout of the DIAL membership list sent by CARL Membership secretary, Kelly Janousek. It seemed to mainly include members from Southern California, but seemed neither up-to-date nor complete. Susan L. suggested that she call Kelly to confirm how the names were sorted.

 

Stephanie then asked the group for ideas on how to expand DIAL-South membership. The following suggestions / comments were made:

 

  • Recruitment of library paraprofessionals: Technically CARL is open to all library workers, but they may have problems taking administrative leave to attend meetings. Barbara commented that the Northeast chapter of Reforma has successfully recruited library staff.

 

  • Send or e-mail personalized invitations to the people on the membership list, to library staff members, and to other interested librarians

 

  • Everyone bring another person to a meeting or an event, as is done in Reforma

 

  • Remember to send all announcements to CARLALL

 

  • Always have DIAL flyers at conferences: Upcoming possibilities are

 

    1. CARL Conference at Asilomar (April) -  on the poster session table;
    2. UCLA-DRMC Diversity Summit on September 16;
    3. CLA Conference in November, (Sacramento) perhaps sharing a table with DRMC or publicizing DIAL through CLA Academic section.

 

  • Have a special recruitment meeting or event.

 

  • Include a social activity aimed at recruitment at one of our programs or events.

 

  • Create a display of photos and handouts from past events to be used as needed.

 

A Recruitment Committee was formed. Members are: Stephanie Ballard, Marjorie Acevedo, Angela Boyd, Susan Luévano, and Judith Samuel. They agreed to communicate by e-mail and to form an action plan.

 

Poster Session

           

            Judith passed around a copy of her Poster Session proposal based on ‘Preserving Memories,’ a program she organized, which was held on June 3, 2005. She will know the results on Jan. 30 and will send the outcome to the DIAL listserv. At the CARL Conference, poster sessions are held on Sunday mornings and breakfast is served. Barbara described a typical poster display. In most cases, there is a three-sectioned poster displaying the process, the event and the outcome. A header serves to “connect the dots” by introducing the event, it’s organizers, panelists, etc.

 

            Handouts are very important part of poster sessions. All the panelists who participated in ‘Preserving memories’ prepared resource lists, which will be copied as poster session handouts. We will also display an updated DIAL brochure and flyers for upcoming programs or events. Another suggestion was having a list of ethnic publishers.

 

            We need to make about 50 copies of each resource list. We informally agreed to share the copying among people who are not attending the Asilomar conference. If the proposal is accepted, Judith will contact the panelists and ask their permission to copy their resource lists and to use the photographs taken on the day of the event. She will also distribute the resource lists to the people copying them.

 

Program Planning

           

            Susan Luévano suggested a museum visit that includes a behind-the-scene tour for our summer program. These have been popular programs for DIAL in the past. The group has visited the Museum of Tolerance, the Japanese-American Museum, and the California African-American Museum.

 

            Stephanie wondered if we could also use such a visit as a recruiting event. We will plan to combine the tour with a social event and food, possibly on a weekend. There was some discussion about holding an event on a weekend instead of a Friday. It was suggested we put this question to the listserv before choosing a day for the summer program.

 

            Suggested venues are listed below. Members will investigate upcoming exhibits, and ask about event rooms and about food. Angela suggested offering Salsa lessons at this or another program.

  • Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach – Susan Luévano
  • Autry National Center: Museum of the American West and Southwest Museum of the American Indian – Susan Shapiro
  • Korean Collection at USC – Sophie Lesinska
  • Chinese-American Museum – Stephanie Ballard

 

Other Business and Announcements

           

            Stephanie reminded us that there will be Interest Group meetings at the CARL Conference. DIAL-South members attending will have the chance to meet our northern counterparts.

 

            Susan Luévano and Barbara Miller are presenting programs at the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC). J CLC will be held in Dallas, October 11-15, 2006. This historic event is the first time all the major ethnic caucus associations affiliated with ALA have sponsored a joint conference. Susan will send the JCLC web address to the DIAL list.

 

            Barbara is giving a presentation on Latino leadership, which she will also present at ALA and the SJSU Career Day. Susan is presenting at two sessions at JCLC. One presentation is on BI and the other one questions whether the anti-immigration movement is impacting immigrant use of public libraries.

 

Meeting Feedback

           

            Everyone agreed that it had been a good meeting with lots of ideas and energy for future programs and events.

 

Next Meeting 

            The next meeting will be held on either March 3rd or March 17th at USC.

 

 

 

Submitted by Susan Shapiro, DIAL-South Secretary, 2005-2006